


Strawberries and Carnations

by Cinnamon1895



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Alice In Wonderland AU, First Kiss, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-13
Updated: 2017-01-12
Packaged: 2018-09-17 03:34:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9302375
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cinnamon1895/pseuds/Cinnamon1895
Summary: "Of all the fucked days Julian had had in the span of his 26 years, this day had to be the most fucked of them all. "Garashir Alice in Wonderland AU. Prompt from @mylovelylittleobsessions on tumblr.Trigger warning for implied nonconsensual drug intake, but it didn't actually happen. He just wonders if it did.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> If you just want the Garashir, skip to chapter 2. But chapter 1 is good too...

“Miles? MILES?”

“Yes, yer honour?”

“What on earth is that in the window?”

“Well, it looks like an arrum, yer honour!” 

“An arm, you goose! Who ever saw an arm of that size? Why, it fills the whole window!”

“Sure it does, yer honour, but it’s an arrum for all that.”

“Well it has no business being there, take it away!”

_Shit_

* * *

 

Of all the _fucked_ days Julian had had in the span of his 26 years, this day had to be the most fucked of them all. _I’m beginning to wonder_ , he thought to himself, _if darling - no not darling anymore - if Leeta put something in my tea earlier this afternoon_. Perhaps, in some ill guided attempt to soothe his soon-to be-broken heart, she had mixed a drop or two of absinthe into the pot. That was precisely the sort of thing she would do, meaning well, but causing catastrophe. It would explain the purely bizarre vision he had been having since leaving her garden: a rabbit in clothes, falling through to the center of the earth, shrinking to an impossibly small size, and now _this._ After coming across a pastry entreating “Eat Me,” Julian had really only hoped to return to his normal size. But instead he had managed to grow into some kind of Tolkien esque beast, filling up the entire home of the poor White Rabbit! And now this Irishman, poor Miles, was being tasked to somehow free him from his prison! Little did they know, he wanted to disappear just as dearly as they wished he would. How on earth were they intending to free him?

Not that it really mattered, _because none of this was real._ Just a strange dream, brought on my the effects of absinthe and love induced hysteria.Soon he would wake up on a park bench somewhere between his own home and Leeta’s, thoroughly shamed, but the proper size at least. 

He waited for some time without hearing anything more: at last came the rumbling of cart wheels and more tiny voices:

 “Where is the first ladder?’” 

“Jake has it!” 

“Bring it ‘ere boy, that’s a good lad”

“Here, I brought all the rope I could find!”

“Come here, tie the ends together.”

“Alright, who’s going up?” 

And then silence for a moment after that.  As the silence stretched longer, Julian began to wonder if he had been abandoned. But soon enough he heard a small voice grumbling unhappily. He listened carefully to what seemed like the sound of small feet climbing up a ladder up the side of the house. The feet scrambled up to the roof, and walked over to where Julian estimated that the chimney opened up. 

“Now you listen here,” he called out, probably more irately than was necessary, “You’d better not come down that chimney! My foot is jammed in the fireplace, you will get stuck worse than I am.”

Silence. Then:

“Well then, Mister or Miss Giant, what exactly do you propose we do? Mister Rabbit is quite cross!”

Good question. Truthfully, Julian wasn’t sure why he was talking to the voice - presumably from the roof - at all. The voice was just a hallucination, there was nothing to be done. Really he should just sit here and wait for his madness to pass. However, it was becoming terribly claustrophobic...

“Well, tell me, I don’t suppose you’ve got any of those little cakes or bottles that say ‘eat or drink me’? The first one I had made me shrink, and the second made me grow large, as you can see here. Perhaps a third would make me shrink to a more respectable size!”

“Oh, course Mister or Miss Giant! If we knew you’d be so reasonable, we’d have tried that first! Just a moment, Mister or Miss Giant!” 

Satisfied, Julian waited. A few moments and a lot of fuss outside later, he felt something smacking at his arm. 

“Ouch, stop that!” he complained. 

“Sorry, Mister or Miss Giant! But I’m trying to reach your hand! I’ve got some cakes tied to the end of this stick, if I drop them in your hand, can you fit them to your mouth?”

“Excellent question,” Julian muttered. After a moment of concentration, he managed to squish his head closer to his arm, and pull his arm more inside the building. Now he could see out the window, and could see the sizable crowd that had gathered in the Rabbit’s garden. The Rabbit was at the forefront, with his arms crossed. A small chipmunk, with whom Julian had apparently been conversing with, was holding a long stick with a cloth tied to one end in the air. “Try now, I think I can fit it!”

The chipmunk stood on his tip toes so he could wave the stick close enough to Julian’s hand. Julian couldn’t help but be a bit annoyed that one of the taller, more adult looking creatures couldn’t have handled this particular task. Nevertheless, the pouch landed in his outstretched hand. Bending his elbow at an awkward angle, he sort of smushed his face against the wall and managed to get his hand and mouth close together. He pulled the knot of the pouch apart with his teeth, and used his tongue to scoop up one of the tiny cakes. 

Much to his relief, he cake began to work almost immediately. A pleasant tingle went through his body, and he watched with great satisfaction as his limbs began to shrink down again. Unfortunately, when they were done shrinking, they were a great deal smaller than usual. But he was no longer a giant, and was not teeny tiny either, so this would have to do for now. He stood up, righted his clothes, and went back in the direction of the front door. 

When he exited the house into the garden, he was met with the crowd of creatures. They were all standing with their arms folded, looking varying degrees of irate. 

“Well, um, thank you all for your help, and sorry for the fuss. I’ll just, um, be off then.” Julian said awkwardly, sort of half bowing as he spoke. No one replied. The small chipmunk looked as if he wanted to, but a raccoon in overalls elbowed him roughly. Julian turned on his heel and started walking in the opposite direction. He wasn’t entirely sure where he was headed, but i had to be better than where he was now. 

“Perhaps if I keep walking,” he said to himself “I’ll eventually return to my senses. Or perhaps I’ll find a peaceful place to lie down and sleep it off.” 

He wasn’t very confident that either of those things would happen any time soon.


	2. Chapter 2

As Julian walked along, he did not either come to his senses, nor find a spot where he felt he could safely rest off his mania. He did, however, become quite hungry. But whatever could he eat? As he looked around, all he saw were beautiful flowers and trees. None of the trees or bushes seemed to have any kind of fruit growing from them. 

Off in the distance, he saw a cluster of interesting looking mushrooms. Hoping to find some edible sorts, he quickened his pace. 

When he reached the patch of mushrooms, they were much larger than he had anticipated. He had to go up on tip toe in order to see the top. When he did, he met the eyes of a scaled creature smoking from a hookah. The creature seemed to be some kind of combination of man and lizard, or possibly alligator. It was shaped like a typical man, with a head, face, two arms, a torso, and two legs. But all the skin Julian could see was covered by blueish grey scales. The creature had black hair that reached the nape of it’s neck, and was wearing a sort of tunic of vibrant purples and golds. It was sitting cross legged, with the hookah sat next to it. 

The creature and Julian looked at each other for quite some time in silence. Julian felt a strange combination of revulsion and fascination. Meanwhile, the creature betrayed no extreme feelings either positive or negative. Eventually, the creature let out a long breath of smoke and said in a smooth voice:

“Who are you?”

They didn’t say it like a question, more like a statement. Their voice had a masculine quality to it, however it reminded Julian of men rumored to be less than so. He opened his mouth to respond, but for the first time in his life, his own name seemed to stick in his throat like a dry biscuit. 

“Well, if I can be honest, I’m not entirely sure at the moment. It seems my world has been turned upside down. How can one be sure of oneself when such a thing has happened?"

“What do you mean by that?” the creature said sternly, “Explain yourself.”

“Well, I’m afraid I can’t explain myself, “ Julian tried “because I’m not myself, you see.”

“I don’t see,” the creature replied, infuriatingly calmly. Julian couldn’t help but bristle a bit. 

“Listen, I have had a very unpleasant day, and I’m not in the mood to be bothered by strangers.” he snapped.

“Explain,” the creature exhaled in a puff of smoke. 

“Well, I’ve had some very upsetting things happen to me today! The woman I was courting very abruptly broke my heart to bits this afternoon, and ever since I’ve been having such strange visions! I seem to be growing and shrinking, and speaking to strange creatures. I simply don’t know how to handle it all! Haven't you ever had a difficult day, a day which made you feel as if you’re at the end of your wits?” he finished, feeling slightly relieved at getting his troubles off his chest. The creature contemplated him in silence for a few minutes, inhaling and exhaling smoke. Julian felt as if he couldn’t look away: even though the creature was frightening at first to look upon, his demeanor had a calming effect. 

“No, I haven’t” the creature replied flatly. Julian threw up his hands, feeling just as frustrated as before. Feeling as if he was wasting his time, he turned and began walking away, resolving to find food somewhere else. 

“Wait, come back!” the creature called out, “I have something important to say!”

Julian paused, considered his options, then turned back around. _What the hell, if this madness insists on persisting, I may as well explore it to exhaustion_. 

When he stood at the base of the mushroom again, the creature stared at him for a moment. Their face seemed more animated than before. After a moment, they shifted over further to one side of the mushroom, then beckoned for Julian to join. After a moment of struggling, Julian pulled himself up onto the slick surface of the mushroom and pushed himself into a sitting position. Once it was apparent he wasn’t going to slide off, he turned so that he was facing the creature head on, cross legged. The creature turned as well. Now their knees were touching just a hair, and this sent a jolt of electricity through Julian’s whole body. 

The creature pulled the hookah round beside them again, and offered the pipe to Julian. He shook his head , not feeling so adventurous as to subject his poor brain to any more substances. The creature, unoffended, took the pipe back to their own mouth. 

“You said you have something important to say.” Julian prompted. 

“Yes” the creature said, smiling now. The smile itself was innocent enough, but Julian couldn’t help but feel he saw a scheming glint in the creature’s eyes. 

“And that is?”

“Forget her,” the creature leaned in and exhaled in a cloud of smoke. The cloud surrounded Julian’s head and made him cough: it smelled like strawberries and carnations and earth. 

“And how to you propose I do that, exactly?” he asked, more breathlessly than before. When he opened his mouth, the taste of the smoke coated his tongue and traveled down his throat. He found himself reflexively keeping his mouth open to get more of the sweet taste. 

The creature raised their pipe to their mouth, but seemed to think better of it, and laid it in their lap instead. They reached out a scaled hand and gently traced a finger down Julian’s cheek. He felt a shiver go down his back. The finger was cool, and not as rough as Julian might have thought from looks alone. When he didn’t pull away from the touch, the creature traced their finger around the shell of his ear, down his jawline, and to the underside of his chin. His mouth was still open, but for an entirely different reason: he felt as if all the air had gone from his lungs, and as if he didn’t mind one bit. This whole time, the creature maintained eye contact, with that mischievous glint in their eye. 

Julian searched his mind for something to say, but before he could, the creature had leaned forward and gently pressed their lips together. Reflexively, Julian let tension in his body that he hadn’t realized he was holding. He closed his eyes and leaned into the kiss, tasting the same sweet taste on the creature’s mouth. 

 

Truly, this was not the strangest thing that had happened all day. 

 

The creature was the first to break the kiss, pulling back to study Julian’s face. 

“Is this how I forget her?” he asked, “Is this how I cure the madness?”

The creature seemed to ponder this question for a moment. “Perhaps. Perhaps not.” they finally settled on. 

“Surely it couldn’t prolong it.” Julian reasoned, at this point thinking of little else but kissing the creature again. 

“Surely not,” the creature echoed. They let Julian take their hand in his. He placed gentle kisses on the scales of their hand, leaving warmth on their cool surface. “I am Garak,” they offered after a moment. 

“Garak,” Julian repeated, the name tasting foreign on his tongue, “Garak, show me more how to forget.” 


End file.
